National Republican., 1887-03-25
THE HUNTER FAILURE.
A Belief That James Hunter Has FIed
In Rrnzil.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa, Mar. A.-The llabil-
tiles OF the firm Of James Sc John Hunter
90 far discovered amount TO 100000,
divided as follows; Keen, Bodlne & Co.,
1922, 900; Mechanics National Bank, $685.
900; Fourth Street National Bank, $4,000;
Third National Bank, $1,000; West Phia-
delphia National Bank, $14 800; Independ-
ence National Bank, 5000. All the com
promising paper bears the name OF James
Long, president Of the Union Trust Com
pany. Mr.. Long says that he does not
know to how much OF the paper his name
has been forged, but the forged paper has
been estimated as high as three-fourths Of
the entire amount. In addition to the
amounts above mentioned there is supposed
to be large amount OF paper anoat which
bears only the firms name.
The rumor that James Hunter took
steamer for Brazil yesterday gained ground
this morning, as nothing has been heard
| from him since Tuesday, when he left the
city, ostensibly for New York.
There Is naturally great anxiety among
business men with whom James q John Hun
| ter had dealings to know whether or not
their names have been used after the man
| ner that Mr.. Longs has, and time only can
| bring out this fact. There is said to be
| quite O large amount Of the firms own
| notes In existence, and there Is prevailing
| opinion that John Hunter has been involved
in complete financial ruin by his brothers.
misdoings.
Since John Hunter became receiver OF
taxes, several years ago, be has devoted his
| whole time to the duties Of that office, leav.
| ing the business entirely In the hands OF his
| brother. President Rommel, OF the Me
cbanics' National Bank, said to-day that
his bank had notes Of James & John
Hunter. bearing Mr.. Longs name, to an
aggregate Of about $50, 900, but that Mr..
| Long had not yet been able to decide
which Of these notes bore true, and which
forged signatures. "All he could tell us
at present was that he had memoranda in
| his bill book Of oil the Hunter paper he
| was on. OF course, we don't know how
many OF the notes we hold are good. James
Long is, of course, all right, and is secured
BY mortgage OF 100000. We knew the
firm was In want OF money, but had no
idea of this terrible thing until yesterday.
was greatly surprised. The Hunters
have banked with us for thirty. FIVE years.
| don't know whether James Hunter was
sane or not, but I'm pretty sure he'll com.
init suicide. l don't think he has the
moral courage to come back and face the
music. II the firm were in trouble why
didn't they let their friends know II? They
have scores of sound friends who would
have been glad to help them out honor
ably.n
| A friend of James Hunter, who knew
him intimately, says he does not believe
the man had more than $40 or $50 when he
left the city. The theory is that when GER
tain notes matured, James Hunter first
resorted to the desperate scheme Of forging
James Longs signature. This was kept
up, 1t is supposed, for years, one forged
| note being used to lift another at the sue
cessive dates Of maturity.
The apprnisemont of the property oil
James & John Hunter has not been com
menced yet, aud It viii be days before the
full value Of the assets is known. A mere
guess at the visible assets and liabilities has
been made as follows: Assets-Wynne.
wood farm, 5000, 900: Conestoga mills, $780,.
600; Norrlstown mills, $4,000: John Hun.
ter's residence, SOS, 900; James Hunters
residence, $4,000; total, $3s3,0OO. Liabili-
ties-Notes upon which suit has been be-
gun, $l56, 100; paper taken out OF Mer
chants Bank, $50, 900; paper taken out OF
Keystone National Bank, $4,000; two
mortgages on Wynnewood farm, sl4O, 900
mortgage on Conestoga mills, $4,000
mortgage on Norristown mills, S25,600
mortgages held by John Mcguire, $6O,0oO
total, S516,100.
The Fourth Street National Bank, OF
Philadelphia, has secured an attachment
from Judge Patterson, In supreme court
chambers, against the property In this state
The action is to recover $lO,s62 on two
notes issued by the Hunters and purporting
to be indorsed by James Long, Of Phila
delphia. The bank discounted the notes
but have since discovered that the sigma
lures were forgerIes.
John Wanamaker this afternoon wrote {
letter to John Field, the assignee of Johr
& James Hunter, expressing his un
bounded confidence in the honesty and in
tegrity Of John Hunter, and offering
10000 as his subscription toward reliev
ing him in his present troubles. He sug
gests that syndicate be formed to as
sumo the liabilities of the company, ant
thus save further litigation and loss.